The X-Men #64

I would hope if the creative team involved in this issue were to look back upon their work - admittedly some 45 years later - they would be rather embarrassed by the effort given for this issue. As nice as it is to see an Asian mutant, the origin of Sunfire is rather far-fetched. Not the origin of Sunfire's mutant abilities - that is actually the only clever part of the issue. Rather, the psychological creation of Sunfire by the will of his evil uncle is confusing and painfully simple (and stereotypical). Since Sunfire has a father, his being raised by his uncle makes little sense, just as Sunfire's willingness to heed his uncle's anti-West speech when Sunfire is already a grown man. If Sunfire is willing to honor his father, why doesn't he? Why does he attack his father, destroy his credibility in public, and then lamely apologize as if he couldn't do anything about it while his father is dying? Very little of this issue makes sense. We are left with the impression the creative team had one idea: "let's create a Japanese mutant, and since the only thing we know about Japan is World War 2, obviously we'll have to work that in every panel." This issue never goes anywhere. Even the dialogue is monotonous throughout. Nearly every page is suffused with identical content: Sunfire remembers his upbringing by his uncle and why America needs to be destroyed. Again and again. Unfortunately, the panels with the eponymous super-heroes don't provide much meaningful content, either. It's a ho-hum story with recycled elements: Beast takes charge in the field, everyone gets in trouble, Cyke saves the day (sort of) but only because he tells Jean not to get involved (once she does all the work of getting Cyke in the right position). It's so nondescript we are almost tempted to root for the airplane when Angel almost gets sucked into the airplane's engine (that actually happens, though I have no idea why). Sunfire is also described as the latest "most powerful mutant ever," another element of the recycled nature of the entire issue. Even the X-Men get bored with the story. After getting beat up instantaneously by Sunfire, they watch idly as Sunfire's uncle brings the action to a close, impatient with Sunfire's momentary lapse of non-reason. Instead of talking to Sunfire, they just walk away and let the police take Sunfire into custody, hoping they can reach the next mutant before it's too late. Apparently it's too late for Sunfire, since he did the terrible thing of destroying statues with his fireballs. No point in trying to talk a boy after he's destroyed some statues and just watched his uncle shoot his father. Clearly everyone was wanting to give up on the series by this point. It's a rather sad way to go.